By Shannon Aiku, Ryan Evans & Samantha M. Frontiera

Photos by Samantha M. Frontiera & Mike Cupp

Shannon: We’re back from Sturgis and we’re all in one piece. Except we’re missing Mike.

Samantha: We’re kinda missing one.

Ryan: Mike’s MIA. That’s OK. (chuckling) He’ll make it home one way or the other. I promise you.

Shannon:I was a great ordeal there and if you seen us out there, thanks for coming out.And the Chip was awesome, so I can’t be happier.

Ryan: As far as the Chip goes, we’ve been to Sturgis many times before, and I think I can speak for the rest of us.Hands down the best Sturgis we’ve ever had, ever been to.The people were the nicest people at the Chip and professional on top of that.So if it weren’t for the Chip, this would just be another Sturgis.

Shannon: And I didn’t hear the word NO a lot. I usually get No you can’t do this, No don’t go there, No you can’t have that.

Ryan: Exactly, the Chip was fun, we were able to have fun, be safe, be professional and be stupid at the same time.

Shannon: Professional?

Ryan: But still had fun!

Samantha: Had so much fun.One of my most favorite parts of the whole Sturgis event had to have beenthe Legends Ride.That was awesome!

Ryan: It was a beautiful ride, not to mention the bands.The concerts every day and every night.Epic.

Shannon: You know who was in front of me? What’s that guy’s name Tom… Somebody? Man, What’s his name?

Samantha: Come on!

Ryan: Anyway, Shannon had Tom “Somebody” in front of him.At one of the concerts?

Shannon: No, on the Legends Ride.

Samantha: We’re still on the Legends Ride.

Shannon: Tom Berenger!

Ryan: Tom Berenger!

Samantha:This year, you guys,they raised over $47,000 for the Rapid City Flame Special Olympics of South Dakota and of course the Sturgis Museum.Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame, right? To preserve the legacy for the future.So that was pretty cool.

Ryan: Everything was cool.Even the garage-built bikes, the garage-built show.Wow! Talk about talent coming out of your backyard. These guys were incredible.

Shannon: Hey, I think they’re bike-builders more than anything.

Ryan: Hey, it doesn’t matter, they got another job.

Samantha: How cool was that?

Ryan: They’ve got another job. There were definitely some ringers there. But these bikes were gorgeous.

Samantha:Yeah, the brass and the steel — those axle spacers that were all just hand-machined.

Ryan: Yeah, all the hand-tooling.

Shannon: The Sportster show was awesome too, which you missed. (pointing to Ryan)

Ryan: I know I missed it.

Shannon: Ha!

Ryan: Those are my people and I missed it!

Shannon: Flat track racing, I mean everything!

Samantha:Wait a minute, what about our first School’s Out Chopper Show. We didn’t even mention that.

Ryan: School’s Out Chopper Show. Cool people, cool rides.The Trike Show right after that.Again, cool people, cool rides. Then what did we have?The Rat’s Hole Show.Wow, that brought out some talent, that brought out some beautiful bikes.Some well-built bikes from around the world.I think our pick was from Sweden.

Shannon: Yep.Yeah we gave it back to them.Those guys were picking the bike to go to Sweden.

Ryan: Really? And we were picking the bike that’s going back to Sweden.

Shannon: It’s a knucklehead man.Did you see? Everything on that bike was flawless.

Ryan: It was incredible.

Samantha: It was beautiful.

Shannon: There was a lot of nice bikes there.At the Rat’s Hole Show. But that bike was nuts.

Ryan: That one was nuts. So long story short, if you make Sturgis again.Granted, go downtown, enjoy Sturgis. But make time to get out to the Crossroads at the Chip because that’s where all the fun is.